Tanys Gladiatrix (The Chronicles of Tanys Book 2) by Andrew Hunter Read Free Book Online

grappling, just a sweaty tangle of arms and legs as each woman clawed and fought to master the other.
    Tanys locked her long legs around the Berra's waist, pushing against her chest to create enough space to deliver a quick blow to the woman's face. Berra, one eye rapidly swelling shut, managed to get an arm up through the gap between Tanys' shoulder and neck. Interlacing the fingers of both hands behind Tanys' back, Berra brought her strength to bear, forcing Tanys down to the side until the raven-haired girl could no longer maintain her hold around Berra's waist. Her ankles slipped apart as Berra forced her way out of the lock.
    Berra moved quickly, bringing her right arm up between Tanys' legs, lifting her butt off the ground in an attempt to upend her. Tanys' nails raked red gouges across Berra's tight buttocks, but Berra ignored the pain as she struggled to control the writhing barbarian girl. With a grunt of effort, Berra jerked Tanys' body upwards momentarily, then brought her knee down across Tanys' free arm, pinning it to the floor. Tanys found herself pressed, face-first against Berra's meaty thigh. Jorva would have been proud, had he been there to see Tanys sink her teeth in.
    Berra screamed, her body spasming with shock. Tanys tasted the blood of her enemy, surprisingly sweet in her mouth. Tanys wrested her elbow free from beneath Berra's weakened leg and soon twisted her other arm free as well. Berra shoved Tanys away with all her strength, falling sideways on the marble, and clutching at her gory leg with a look of horror on her battered face.
    Tanys crouched on all fours, low to the ground, watching Berra the way the wolf watches its wounded prey. Tanys felt something thick and wet between her lips, and she hesitated a moment before spitting out the little piece of Berra. Tanys fixed the gladiatrix with a red grin and advanced.
    Berra scrambled backwards, her eyes full of fear. Her feet and hands slipped in the widening pool of her own blood as she tried to get away, and she fell backward, legs apart. A moment later Tanys was astride her, driving her fist into Berra's face again and again.
    Berra's body slowly surrendered, going slack as Tanys poured her rage into the yielding gladiatrix. Tanys gasped for breath. Her head ached with the return of reason and the protests of her countless wounds could at last be heard over the subsiding roar of hatred in her brain. Tanys wiped the blood from her throbbing knuckles onto Berra's quivering breasts. Berra moaned. Tanys knew what Jorva would say about leaving an enemy alive, but the sight of what she had done already to the woman sickened Tanys. She had drunk too deeply at the cup of war this day.
    What was this place doing to her?
    A gentle touch on her shoulder pulled Tanys back from the shadow. Danella smiled through her pain. Her face as well bore the swollen reminders of the day's violence. "Thank you, Tanys."
    "No," Tanys said, her voice rasping and thin, "Your bravery saved both of us."
    Tanys' ribs felt as though she had been sat upon by a dinghast, and a large purple bruise drooped below her left eye, but, apart from that, she felt wonderful. She sat across the enormous ebony table from Haru'Luk, sipping her wine, half-listening to his latest tirade.
    "You could have gotten Danella killed! Don't you even care about that?"
    "She did alright for herself," Tanys laughed, "You should have seen her!"
    Danella smiled as she looked up from her work. The girl's face showed nary a trace of the beating she had received defending Tanys from the two thugs. Her dark eyes fell again to the mortar and pestle with which she ground a fresh batch of the painkillers that were, in part, responsible for Tanys' good mood.
    "The worst part..." Haru fumed as he paced around the villa's dining hall, "Do you know what the worst part is? We didn't get paid for it! You risked yourselves over a pointless... profitless brawl in an empty bathhouse!"
    Tanys ignored him, probing thoughtfully